The Polish Triumph in Warsaw in 1661 on the Occasion of the Victories of the Polish-Lithuanian Troops of the Previous “Happy Year”: the Moscow Translation of a Special Issue of the First Polish Newspaper “Merkuriusz Polski”

Piotr Kroll, Alexandr V. Malov, Stepan M. Shamin

Abstract

The paper examines the Moscow translation of a special issue of the first Polish newspaper Merkuriusz Polski in the archive of the Secret Chancellery, which recounts the Polish triumph in Warsaw in 1661 on the occasion of the victories of the Polish-Lithuanian troops of the previous “happy year”. The history of the text's creation and its appearance in Russia is reviewed, as well as the literary features of the Polish edition and its Russian translation. Also addressed are the issues of the documents' archival storage.

The text in question is contrasted with other literary works dedicated to the event. The authors also turn to the main episodes of the 1660 military campaign and the measures taken by the Russian government to combat Polish propaganda materials and to disseminate in Europe their own view of the conflict. The authors show that, despite the fierce struggle between the countries, their cultural interaction continued, taking the form of an information war. In the annex, the texts of the Polish original and its Russian translation are published.

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